A Magia Orb appeared out of nowhere and imploded, making everybody bump into each other. They all lost over 20% HP from this four-way collision. Yuel only lost a little over 20%, but his squishier allies lost around 30%. It was damage from just one spell but it was devastating. Alex must have built as much power as humanly possible to pull this off.

"Yo, these dudes are invading!" Lars exclaimed.

"Yeah, we kinda noticed!" Kai gritted her teeth. Shit! This is the worst opening ever! I gonna give these invaders a piece of-

The enemy's attack wasn't over yet. Before the team got a chance to reorganize, a big lion man crashed on them from the sky like a meteor! The impact was so strong it knocked all of them into the air!

"Damn, this can't be happening!" Kai clenched her controller. No way! What kind of game opening was this!? They’ve already dropped below 70%! "Didn't you check for invades!?"

"I did, but..." Yuel bit his lip. Back when he was scouting there area, there was nobody in sight. These guys didn't take any of the standard invade routes. They must have taken a long roundabout route that circled around Yuel’s wards. Darn it!

"Heh, how you kids like this little surprise party?" Trever dashed into the scene with his pistol pointed at the sky. All these air-bound targets were free real estate!

Naturally, the prey he targeted first was none other than Lars. "Lemme show you what happens when you don't pick your strongest class against me!"

Bam! The bullet flew at Lars. Hitting a falling target was quite the art, but Trever has mastered it a long time ago. His aim was spot on!

No dice, yo! Lars performed a Dodge Roll to the side in the middle of his fall!

"Wow! You gotta be shitting me!" Trever exclaimed. His bullet was so-well placed, yet Lars dodged it in the nick of time! What an absolute mad lad!

Figured something like that might happen. Alex was already prepared with a Magia Orb floating in front of him. He estimated where Lars was going to land and unleashed a magical force that sent the orb flying across the area. It was heading straight toward Lars's future landing spot!

Yo! No way! Cold sweat ran down Lars’s forehead. Where did this Spetznaz assault team come from!? They didn't give anybody a breather! It was one attack after another!

There was no telling how dangerous this orb was because Sorcerer’s damage was always weird like that. It might even kill Lars on the spot the moment he lands on the ground! Stuff was crazy, yooooooo!

"Heh, haha." Despite the enormous danger, a grin surfaced on Lars's face. This pressure! This danger! Yeah, this was how things gotta be! It was the first time he felt this rush of adrenaline since the selection match. This invade was sick!

But, ya ain't gonna catch me sleeping! Lars activated Elven Leap as soon as his feet touched the ground. There was almost no recovery time after the landing, so he leaped away as soon as his toe touched the ground.

"Phew!" Lars exclaimed loudly as the black orb failed to graze his feet. It was hella close! But, just like I thought. No way that dude could be fast enough to guarantee that hit. Too slow, dawg!

"Well, I tried," Alex shrugged. "It's up to you now."

"You did good, my man," Trever turned his back to the enemy and prepared to close the distance with Backfire Cannon. "I'll chase him down from here-"

"Change of plans," Aron said. "He's too far now. Take out the mage instead."

"Tch, fine," Trever canceled his fun chasing plans and shot the Lumimancer instead.

While Lars just barely escaped from the brink of death, Yuel and Kai landed on the ground after being knocked up by Aron's Majestic Leap. However, that wasn't the end of this calculated attack. As soon as they hit the ground, a deafening roar thundered!

"Shit!" Kai cursed. She pressed buttons but they did nothing. The Mighty Roar inflicted her with fear and made her automatically run away from the Lionfolk as if she was scared of him. Huh! Nonsense. I can take that guy out no problem. Just let me control my damn character!

This invade is too high level. Yuel grit his teeth. They have been had, no two ways about it. We have to get out of here as fast as humanly possible.

As soon as the fear effect ended, Yuel hurled his axe across the area and was about to blink toward it. However...

You wanna fight, huh!? Kai activated Blinding Light. The Lumimancer began shining, preparing to unleash a blinding burst of light. It was going to hit Aron but it was a waste of time. She had to retreat!

"Blink out of here!" Yuel ordered. "We won’t win this fight."

"I know that! Damn," Kai cursed through gritted teeth. Yeah, the hell I’m doing? I gotta scram! It didn't matter how embarrassing this defeat looked, for she'll get these guys next time. For now, retreat at full gas! No time to even look back!

Thanks to her own stupidity, she let the Lionfolk claw her once before she got away. That cost her 8% HP. With all the accumulated damage, she was already at death's door with just 30% HP. A couple more hits and she was a goner!

Before her Blinding Light finished charging, she activated Flash and blinked the hella outta there. She ultimately unleashed her Blinding Light at her the target location, but there was nobody to hit there. It was a waste of MP but oh well, at least she got out of the danger. Or, so she thought...

"You ain't getting away, babe!" Trever was right on the case! The chick blinked far away but she wasn't entirely outta reach yet. Trever turned his back in her direction and activated Backfire Cannon.

Bam! The impact sent him flying toward the cute mage chick! This cannon was such a bro, he knew what's up.

Damn, is that after me? A shiver ran on Kai's back. She knew these situations very well. When Backfire Cannon resounded from behind like that, nine times out of ten it was used for chasing. Bad news!

But, I can't turn back. Kai pressed onwards without wasting a moment. Turning around to confirm the details will only slow her down. No time to check. Gotta press on.

Meanwhile, Yuel saw everything from his position. Trever closed a lot of distance in an instant with the Backfire Cannon tech. This chase might be cutting it a little close.

Fortunately, Yuel was in a great position to interfere.

"I'll stall him," Yuel announced and took off toward Trever.

"Wha-!?" Trever jumped as two muscular hands wrapped around him from behind. "Hey! Hands off, macho!"

But, it was to no avail. Yuel hurled Trever away from Kai. That halted the chase in its tracks.

Okay, I'm out. Yuel finally blinked to the axe he threw a few seconds before. With that, the invade has been thwarted. Even though everybody sustained heavy injuries, they were all alive and safe.

"Dang it, yo!" Lars ranted. "These dudes walked all over us! Lemme at them!"

"You'll die if you go in there now," Yuel said.

"So what, we just gonna let 'em take our camps free of charge like that?"

"Unfortunately, we have no choice," Yuel frowned as he watched the enemy take the Wraith Camp belonging to Yuel's team. There was a good chance they'll also take out the Ogre Camp afterward, leaving Yuel's team with zero buffs at game start. Frankly, this was a terrible opening.

"Nothing we can do to stop them. Let’s just clear the hyenas over here," Yuel suggested. "I don't see them invading any deeper right now."

"Geh, fine," Lars was still pouting but he followed Yuel to the nearby Hyena Camp and they cleared it together.

"Well, that was a huge blunder," Kai stated. "You should've scouted better against an invade."

"I checked all the likely invade routes," Yuel said. "But, it seems I overestimated the distance between Bot Lane the Wraith Camp on this smaller map. I didn't expect them to invade from there. That's mode unfamiliarity for you."

"Nice excuses."

"Oh, yes? Then, where's your excuse for not blinking out of the fight right away? What was the point of that Blinding Light you wasted?"

"That's..." Kai glanced aside. "Just keeping these guys on their toes and all that."

"Yeah, a smart thing to do instead of immediately getting away. Sure."

"It's been a while since I played Lumi, alright? Blinking wasn't the first thing that came to mind."

"I can say the same about Clash mode. I haven't played this mode much, so I don't have enough experience on scouting invades here."

"YO. MY DUDES." Lars smacked both of them on the back. "Save that stuff for after we win. We got a crappy start but we're still kickin'. If we let that small thing get to us, we gonna lose the whole thing."

"Right," Yuel nodded.

"True that," Kai threw Yuel one last look, then returned to the game. "So, where do we go from here? Can I go straight to lane?"

"Yes, that seems like the best line of play," Yuel nodded. "Lars, you better recall to heal up before going to lane."

"Roger!"

"As for me, I'll get straight to jungling since I haven't lost much HP."

And so, the delayed laning phase began. Both laners were already at a disadvantage in terms of level and buffs.

This is definitely what you call starting the game on the wrong foot. Yuel bit his lip. Despite what he said about mode unfamiliarity, this invade was unmistakably his fault. He had to make up for it as soon as possible to set the record straight.

After he and Lars cleared the Hyena camp, Yuel went straight after the griffins in the center of the map. Normally, these stronger creeps were supposed to be challenged only after cleaning the Wolf Camp near Bot. However, Aron probably had his hands full with clearing the buff camps on his side of the Jungle, so it should take him a while to get to the Griffins. Or, so Yuel hoped...

Tch, he covered that opening. Yuel clicked his tongue as his ward by the Griffin Camp revealed Aron. Instead of returning to his side of the jungle, Aron first stopped to farm the griffins. It seemed he was intent on leaving Yuel's team with zero chances of winning.

These guys don't pull any punches. Yuel gulped. This match was the real deal through and through. On top of that, it felt like their opponents were rather familiar with Clash mode. And, they clearly had plenty of experience playing together, as evident by the smooth teamwork during that invade. Not to mention, that team was composed of talented high-schoolers with more experience in general.

In short, the circumstances were rough. Yuel's team was inferior in every possible regard here. Even the counter-picking attempts turned out so-so. Yuel successfully counter-picked Aron’s Lionfolk, but the lane matchups were far from favorable.

This is perfect. Yuel smirked. This disadvantageous match was a great simulation for where Stratus and StormBlitz were standing right now. If Yuel and Lars wanted a realistic shot at beating a powerhouse like StormBlitz with their new inferior team, they had to be able to overcome tough matches like this.

Now, how do I turn this terrible position around and start building an advantage for the team? The match has just started and there was a lot of work ahead of them!